Device for moistening envelopes and the like



Patented July 27, 1937 PATENT FFIQE DEVICE FOR MOISTENING ENVELOPES AND THE LIKE Jozefa Olympia Armfelt, Kulla, Odensviholm, Sweden Application December 9, 1935, Serial No. 53,550 In Sweden April 8, 1935 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a device for moistening envelopes and gummed surfaces generally. Hitherto proposed devices of this kind are more or less unsatisfactory, in as much as they give on" either too much or too little liquid to the surface to be moistened, or else they are too complicated or expensive. It is an object of the present invention to remove these disadvantages and to provide a device of this kind which is simple and yet fully reliable, and which may be cheaply manufactured.

The accompanying drawing illustrates by way of example two constructional forms of a device according to the present invention. Fig. 1 shows a vertical section of a moistening device according to the invention. Fig. 2 shows a vertical section of a slightly modified construction of the device in its position of use.

Referring to both figures of the drawing, I denotes a receptacle for Water which is provided with a screwthreaded opening at the top which is closed by means of a screw stopper 4 and a packing 5. Passing through and attached to said screw stopper 4 is a tube 2 in which a wick 3 is inserted. According to Fig. 1, the tube passes through the stopper 4 substantially in the axial direction of the receptacle I, but the lower portion of the tube is bent to one side, so that the lower end of the tube is located at a distance from the axis of the receptacle in the neighborhood of the corner formed between the bottom and the side-wall of the receptacle.

The portion of the tube above the stopper is bent in the opposite direction, so that the upper end of the tube is also located at a distance from the axis of the receptacle I.

The constructional form illustrated in Fig. 2 differs from that illustrated in Fig. 1 by the tube 2' being straight and passing through the stopper 4 at an angle to the axis of the receptacle, so that also in this case the inner and outer ends of the tube are located on opposite sides of and at a distance from the axis of the receptacle.

When not in use the device is intended to be placed in the position shown in Fig. 1 on a writing-table or other convenient place. When used, the device is tilted approximately to the position shown in Fig. 2, so that the outer end of the tube 2, or 2', which is cut off obliquely, comes in an approximately parallel position to the surface to be moistened. The inner end of the tube will then come above the level of the water 6 in the receptacle, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the water is prevented from flowing out through the tube even in the case that the wick itself is too thin or loose to prevent the water from flowing through the tube. The oblique position of the tube relatively to the axis of the receptacle thus ensures against excessive moistening of the surface. The Water which reaches the outer end of the tube, will always be fed automatically, due to the capillary action of the wick, in correct quantities corresponding to the consumption.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the constructional forms illustrated in the drawing, as it is of course possible to bend the tube in some other manner or to incline the tube at another angle relatively to the receptacle than that shown in the drawing, but the tube should be so bent or placed at such angle or in such position relatively to the axis of the receptacle that, when the device is used, the inner end of the tube will occupy such position relatively to the level of the Water in the receptacle that the pressure of the water is without effect in the tube, and so that the water cannot flow out directly through the tube.

I claim:

1. A device for moistening gummed surfaces, comprising in combination a receptacle for liquid, a tube attached to said receptacle, 2. wick in said tube, one end of said tube reaching to a point near the bottom of said receptacle at a distance from the axis of :said receptacle, and the other end of said tube reaching to a point outside the receptacle on the opposite side of the axis of the receptacle and at a distance from said axis.

2. A device as in claim 1 in which the tube is formed in an ogee curve.

JOZEFA OLYMPIA ARMFELT. 

